AbbVie, Inc.
ABBV
announced that it has collaborated with Scripps Research, a non-profit institution, to develop noveloral antiviral treatments for COVID-19.
Scripps Research has already been working on a SARS-Cov-2 research program through its drug discovery and development division, Calibr. The collaboration with AbbVie is expected to accelerate this program’s development.
Both AbbVie and Scripps will work on bringing differentiated antiviral treatments by addressing the ongoing gaps in patient needs for COVID treatment.
The completion of this deal is subject to customary closing conditions and clearance from regulatory authorities.
Shares of AbbVie were up 2.5% following the news announcement. In fact, the stock has gained 15.1% so far this year against the
industry
’s 0.2% decline.
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Currently, AbbVie has no approved or marketed drug in COVID-19 indication. The company is also working with institutions like the National Institute of Health and Harvard University to develop novel therapies for COVID-19 treatment.
The COVID-19 antiviral treatment market in the United States is currently being dominated by two pharma giants
Pfizer
PFE
and
Merck
MRK
that market their respective oral antiviral pills, Paxlovid and molnupiravir.
Pfizer’s Paxlovid and Merck’s molnupiravir are the newly approved oral treatment options in the non-hospitalized setting for COVID-19 infection that were authorized for emergency use by the FDA in December 2021. In fact, both Pfizer and Merck have released pre-clinical/clinical data, which has shown that their respective pills are active against the Omicron variant.
Pfizer generated $76 million from Paxlovid’s U.S. sales in fourth-quarter 2021. PFE expects to generate revenues of $22 billion from Paxlovid sales in 2022.
Merck’s molnupiravir generated sales of $952 million during the fourth quarter. Merck expects sales in the range of $5-$6 billion from molnupiravir in 2022.
Zacks Rank & Stock to Consider
AbbVie currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stock in the overall healthcare sector is
Vertex Pharmaceuticals
VRTX
, which carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here
.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ earnings per share estimates for 2022 have increased from $14.33 to $14.52 in the past 30 days. Shares of VRTX have risen 12.5% year to date.
Earnings of Vertex Pharmaceuticals beat estimates in each of the last four quarters, with the average being 10%.
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